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Employee Profile

Klemens Knöferle

Associate Professor - Department of Marketing

Biography

Dr. Klemens Knöferle is Associate Professor of Marketing and founder of the Center for Multisensory Marketing (CMM) at BI Norwegian Business School. He received his PhD from the University of St. Gallen, and has worked as a postdoc at Oxford University and as a visiting researcher at the University of Michigan.

In his research, Klemens studies consumer psychology. In a first stream of research, he examines how sensory processes (e.g., vision, hearing, taste, interoception) and sensory aspects of products, foods, and retail environments influence consumers. In a second stream of research, he explores the impact of new technologies (e.g., self-quantification, smart products, sharing of possessions) on consumers’ behavior and well-being. Overall, the goal of his research is to contribute to a better understanding of consumers, to enhance consumer well-being, and to help marketers design better products, stores, and experiences.

Klemens' research has been published in academic journals such as Journal of Experimental Psychology, Journal of Retailing, Scientific Reports, and Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. He has served as a reviewer for top journals across various fields, including Journal of Marketing Research, Proceedings of the Royal Society: B, and Journal of Experimental Psychology. Klemens teaches courses on consumer behavior, marketing communication, and research methodology. Building on his research expertise, he also consults international companies in various industries (e.g., food, automotive, retailing, consumer electronics, appliances).

Area of Expertise

Publications

Hoang, Chi; Knöferle, Klemens & Warlop, Luk (2023)

Using different advertising humor appeals to generate firm-level warmth and competence impressions

International Journal of Research in Marketing Doi: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2023.08.002

An online experiment and a large-scale correlational study show that the effects of a humor appeal in product advertising go beyond consumers’ general attitudes toward the ad and the advertised product. A humor appeal influences consumers’ perceptions of the advertised firms’ competence and warmth. Importantly, the competence and warmth signaling values of humor in advertising vary with the nature of the humor appeal. We specifically find that an incongruity resolution humor appeal enhances consumers’ impressions of the firms’ competence but only when consumers can resolve the incongruity. A tension relief humor appeal enhances consumers’ impressions of the firms’ warmth. Humorous self-disparagement reduces impressions of the firms’ competence, while other-disparagement reduces both warmth and competence firm impressions. We discuss how firms can use humor appeals in their marketing communication to signal their different qualities.

Weiss, Stephanie; Knöferle, Klemens & Vossen, Alexander (2022)

Meaningfully Different? How Visual Semantics Help New Ventures Achieve Optimal Distinctiveness

Academy of Management Proceedings Doi: 10.5465/AMBPP.2022.16061abstract

Knoeferle, Klemens & Spence, Charles (2021)

Sound in the Context of (Multi)Sensory Marketing

Deaville, James; Rodman, Ron & Tan, Siu-Lan (red.). The Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising

Wang, Qian Janice; Spence, Charles & Knöferle, Klemens (2020)

Timing is everything: Onset timing moderates the crossmodal influence of background sound on taste perception

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 46(10), s. 1118- 1126. Doi: 10.1037/xhp0000820

Recent evidence demonstrates that the presentation of crossmodally corresponding auditory stimuli can modulate the taste and hedonic evaluation of various foods (an effect often called 'sonic seasoning'). To further understand the mechanism underpinning such crossmodal effects, the time at which a soundtrack was presented relative to tasting was manipulated in a series of experiments. Participants heard two soundtracks corresponding to sweet and bitter tastes either exclusively during or after chocolate tasting (Experiment 1) or during and before chocolate tasting (Experiment 2). The results revealed that the soundtracks affected chocolate taste ratings only if they were presented before or during tasting but not if they were heard after tasting. Moreover, participants’ individual soundtrack–taste association mediated the strength of the sonic seasoning effect. These results therefore imply that the modulatory effect of sound on taste was not driven by retrospective interpretation of the taste experience, but by mechanisms such as priming and crossmodal association. Taken together, these studies demonstrate the complex interplay of cognitive mechanisms that likely underlie sonic seasoning effects.

Moeni-Jazani, Mehrad; Knoeferle, Klemens, De Molière, Laura, Gatti, Elia & Warlop, Luk (2017)

Social Power Increases Interoceptive Accuracy

Frontiers in Psychology, 8 Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01322 - Full text in research archive

Knoeferle, Klemens; Paus, Vilhelm Camillus & Vossen, Alexander (2017)

An upbeat crowd: Fast in-store music alleviates negative effects of high social density on customers’ spending

Journal of Retailing, 93(4), s. 541- 549. Doi: 10.1016/j.jretai.2017.06.004 - Full text in research archive

Knoeferle, Klemens; Li, Jixing, Maggioni, Emanuela & Spence, Charles (2017)

What drives sound symbolism? Different acoustic cues underlie sound-size and sound-shape mappings

Scientific Reports, 7(1) Doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-05965-y - Full text in research archive

Wang, Qian J; Knoeferle, Klemens & Spence, Charles (2017)

Music to make your mouth water? Assessing the potential influence of sour music on salivation

Frontiers in Psychology, 8:638 Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00638 - Full text in research archive

Wan, Xiaoang; Woods, Andy T., Jacquot, Muriel, Knöferle, Klemens, Kikutani, Mariko & Spence, Charles (2016)

The Effects of Receptacle on the Expected Flavor of a Colored Beverage: Cross-Cultural Comparison Among French, Japanese, and Norwegian Consumers

Journal of sensory studies, 31(3), s. 233- 244. Doi: 10.1111/joss.12206

Knöferle, Klemens; Knöferle, Pia, Velasco, Carlos & Spence, Charles (2016)

Multisensory brand search: How the meaning of sounds guides consumers' visual attention

Journal of experimental psychology. Applied, 22(2), s. 196- 210. Doi: 10.1037/xap0000084

Velasco, Carlos; Wan, Xiaoang, Knöferle, Klemens, Zhou, Xi, Salgado-Montejo, Alejandro & Spence, Charles (2015)

Searching for flavor labels in food products: The influence of color-flavor congruence and association strength

Frontiers in Psychology, 6(301) Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00301

Knöferle, Klemens; Woods, Andy, Käppler, Florian & Spence, Charles (2015)

That Sounds Sweet: Using Cross-Modal Correspondences to Communicate Gustatory Attributes

Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), s. 107- 120. Doi: 10.1002/mar.20766

Spence, Charles; Velasco, Carlos & Knöferle, Klemens (2014)

A large sample study on the influence of the multisensory environment on the wine drinking experience

Flavour, 3(8) Doi: 10.1186/2044-7248-3-8

Knöferle, Klemens; Spangenberg, Eric, Landwehr, Jan & Herrmann, Andreas (2012)

It is all in the mix: The interactive effect of music tempo and mode on in-store sales

Marketing letters, 23(1), s. 325- 337. Doi: 10.1007/s11002-011-9156-z

Knöferle, Klemens & Spence, Charles (2012)

Crossmodal correspondences between sounds and tastes

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, s. 992- 1006. Doi: 10.3758/s13423-012-0321-z

Weiss, Stephanie; Knöferle, Klemens & Vossen, Alexander (2022)

Meaningfully Different? How Visual Semantics Help New Ventures Achieve Optimal Distinctiveness

[Academic lecture]. Academy of Management Annual Meeting.

Tabassum, Farhana; Knoeferle, Klemens & Warlop, Luk (2021)

Visual Illusion of Truth Effect

[Academic lecture]. EMAC 2021 Annual Conference.

Hoang, Chi Linh; Knoeferle, Klemens & Warlop, Luk (2020)

The smart joker: Resolving humorous incongruity in advertising facilitates impressions of firm competence

[Academic lecture]. Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP) Conference.

Hoang, Chi Linh; Knoeferle, Klemens, Krishna, Aradhna & Warlop, Luk (2019)

Consumers' Attribution of Mind to Possessions as an Impediment to Sharing

[Academic lecture]. Annual EMAC Conference.

Knöferle, Klemens; Paus, Vilhelm Camillus & Vossen, Alexander (2016)

An upbeat crowd: The effect of social density and instore music tempo on retail sales

[Academic lecture]. Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP) Winter Conference 2016.

Knöferle, Klemens; Knoeferle, Pia, Velasco, Carlos & Spence, Charles (2014)

Multisensory Brand Search: How the Meaning of Sound Guides Consumers’ Visual Attention

[Academic lecture]. ACR North-American Conference 2014.

Academic Degrees
Year Academic Department Degree
2012 University of St. Gallen Ph.D.
2008 University of Wurzburg M.A.
Work Experience
Year Employer Job Title
2016 - Present BI Norwegian Business School Associate Professor
2016 - 2016 University of Michigan Visiting Researcher
2013 - 2016 BI Norwegian Business School Assistant Professor
2012 - 2013 University of Oxford Postdoctoral Researcher
2009 - 2011 University of St. Gallen PhD student

BI Business Review articles: